Catalina amphib

[Guest burbles1]

Pretty interesting little aircraft in this month's mag. The Catalina is obviously a stripped back 'bare bones' aircraft. It concerns me though that in the event of a flat battery, the undercarriage can be lowered by gravity alone - so, there's no mechanism to force the wheels down and to lock? You're relying on gravity for the wheels to drop down and hopefully lock? Sounds a bit sus.

 

The panel's not particularly impressive either (a Skydat, really!!). Reminds me of driving a Mini Moke - you get a speedo and that's about it.

 

The article doesn't say anything about demonstrated x-wind component or many other specs - I'd like this info if I'm expected to go for a test fly.

 

 

[Barefootpilot]

It does look interesting. It very common to have gravity extention only for the undercarriage you pull the pin/switch/overide button and pull a couple of G's and down they go pretty simple.

 

As for the panel anything that goes near water wants to be as simple as possible remeber its meant to be basic not a full glass panel.

 

A.

 

 

[Ultralights]

nothing wrong with gravity extension, the B747 uses gravity to extend the gear. with aerodynamic aid. 767 is the same. its funny watching the gear swings in the hanger at Qantas, the gear is lowered, gravity does it thing, but with the lack of aerodynamic force, its takes about 5 guys hanging off the wheels to get it to lock. on its great failsafe, in the event of hydraulic failure, gravity does it for you

 

 

[Vev]

One of the key points in the article was its affordability over other amphibious aircraft, but they failed to say what it was???… this feels disingenuous to me and spoilt my first impressions. I hope their new marketing manager repositions their offer to meet our intelligence in their future marketing campaigns.

 

 

Cheers

 

Jack

 

 

[Guest burbles1]

The FLY UL site puts it at 38,000 euro, around $52,000 (http://www.flyul.se/div/data_price.pdf). Don't know what import costs and GST might be on that - I'll check with Fly Synthesis some time.

 

 

[HEON]

I think it would be a real fun machine with real relationship to an airborn jet ski. The cost if 38000 euro would have to be around A$65000: I will be interested to know the "real" figure.

 

My only concern about the aircraft is that it is very much an airborn jet ski that by its design is likely to remain within a small area of operations. With a Rotax two stroke engine it will not be very quiet and thus if the operators have the same "manners" as some current jet ski riders it could lead to noise pollution problems that could lead to blanket restrictions on all amphibians.

 

The Super Petrel for comparison has a Swedish standard Db reading of 58Db. This is much lower than jet ski's and most outboards (two stroke). I do not have figures on the Sea Max or Freedom but having heard them I think they are probably around the same (low) figure. In this day and age what impact we have on others is of concern as restrictions happen with ease, but their removal is nearly impossible.

 

 

[Guest burbles1]

Well, the noise from a two-stroke isn't my only concern - having seen a few more photos from a European website, I can't see any baggage space either. Altogether, not great for touring.

 

In this day and age, I would expect a Jabiru or Rotax 912 on even a small ultralight - there are good examples (e.g. the Bantam). Choice of analogue or glass panels (and combinations) is also a big consideration. This is because many new pilots have trained on Jabiru, who have set the bar pretty high with panel options - people come to expect that they have those options on other aircraft.

 

 

[JG3]

How's this for a real handy, affordable amphibian

 

 

 

[Ed Herring]

Hi All

 

I am starting to get the feeling that i am eventually going to get hooked on taking off and landing on water.... the evoutionary thing is starting to happen because i just happen to be in a region where it could work. Watch this space....! Please don't tell my Wife yet....!

 

Best Regards

 

Ed